In January we presented the glorious history of the MIT spam conference, today we present the schedule for the first day. Opening session will be from this author, Garth Buren with a topic entitled The Internet Doomsday Book, with details be released the same day as the presentation. Followed by Dr. Robert Bruen with a review of activities since the last MIT spam conference... more
Various people whose judgment I value [M. Mueller, B. Fausett] have suggested that ICANN/IANA may finally get to the issue of privacy.
The ICANN Board is establishing a "President's Standing Committee on Privacy" (why the committee is possessed by ICANN's "president" and not the Board is something we can deal with at another time and another place.)
Privacy is a hard question. It is a matter that pervades all aspects of information handling. It would be entirely inappropriate, and ultimately futile, to try to deal with privacy as an after-the-fact adjustment to the existing DNS Whois system. It is necessary to examine the most fundamental questions -- such as what reasons, if any, justify there being a Whois database at all. more
This part 3 of the selecting a back-end registry service provider series focuses on Whois and sharing data in new gTLDs. If you've ever looked up information about a domain name you've used a Whois service. It's the public information system about contact information for a domain name or IP addresses, though in this article, we will just talk about domain name Whois. In some generic and sponsored Top Level Domains (gTLDs), Whois is run authoritatively by the gTLD. In older gTLDs such as .com and .net, the authoritative Whois service is run by the registrar responsible for the domain name. While some TLD operators run their own infrastructure... more
It looks as if ICANN is going to require applicants for new TLDs to agree (in advance) not to negotiate a changed contract with ICANN. We agree that streamlining the process is in everyone's interest. Along those lines, we are proposing a substantially thinner contract that ICANN and new registries could use. Existing registries should also be allowed to sign up to this contract, if they wish. more
On January 24, 2018, ICANN's Business Constituency (BC) and Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) co-hosted an event to discuss the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its implications on access to the WHOIS database. ICANN's CEO and General Counsel joined the discussion, as did stakeholders from across the ICANN community. The event was timely and well attended with over 200 participants attending in-person or virtually. more
In the current debate over the balance between privacy and Internet safety and security, one of the unanswered questions is: "How will those responsible for protecting the public interest gain access to the non-public data in the WHOIS databases post General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?" In an attempt to prevent WHOIS data from going "dark," several community members have been working for the past weeks to create a model that could be used to accredit users and enable access to the non-public WHOIS data. more
New Zealand's Domain Name Commission (DNC) wins in court against the US company DomainTools for "illegally scrapping personal information" of .nz domain name owners. more
While the EU is boasting about the success of its flagship privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the U.S. administration is ramping up attacks on the system, saying it provides cover to cybercriminals and threatens public health. more
For now, it appears that the new, more technically focused and privacy-friendly definition of the purpose of Whois survived the Marrakech meeting. The U.S. Government and the copyright and law enforcement interests mounted a major onslaught against the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) action, using the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) as their pressure point. more
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is running a trial service that gives users access to historical IP whois data – that is, it will tell you who was responsible for an IP address or block of IPs. The service is not automated and if you want to access it you will need to submit a request via email with information about not only what you want to know, but why you are interested in accessing the information. more
This is the second part of a 2-part series article describing a method for voting among owners of domain names. To read the first part of this article click here.
After a ballot closes, each registrar will send the summary results to at least two vote counting entities. These organizations will tally summary results obtained from each registrar. The totals of the summary results will be cross-checked against totals from the other vote counting entities. more
"The domain name industry is kicking off one of its most fundamental shifts in its plumbing this week," Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite. more
Here is a list of the most viewed news and blog postings that were featured on CircleID in 2008... Best wishes for 2009 and Happy New Year from all of us here at CircleID. more
Lost in all the discussion around the recent ITU meeting (TIES account required of course) is any discussion of the current policy regarding the formation of new RIRs. You may recall that one of the reports that the ITU commissioned on this subject suggests that it would be possible, even desirable for the ITU to be allocated a /12 of IPv6 from the IANA to be further allocated to Country Internet Registries. more
Organizations behind two of the new geographic top-level domains, .amsterdam and .frl, have refused to provide public access to information about the registrants of domain names, otherwise known as Whois records. more
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